In 1993 Aotearoa New Zealand ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In effect this meant that apart from three exemptions all laws and legislation complied with the Convention.
One article specifically states that Government has a responsibility to inform children of their rights.
UNICEF with community support partially picked up the mantel for the Government by producing, publishing and distributing Each and Every Child: He Taonga Tonu Te Tamariki in 2011 to every primary school however to only a few early childhood centres. The book was created to help children to understand and discuss their rights. The text is a simplified interpretation of 15 of the 54 articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. A modified version of these rights is recorded in the back of the book. Details of the nine different Aotearoa New Zealand artists who illustrated the rights are recorded in the rear of the book. The text is written in te reo Māori and in English.
In 2021 OMEP Aotearoa, a world organisation for early childhood, and a member of Play Aotearoa, who believe that rights are at the heart of working with young children wanted to ratify this for the early childhood sector. While recognising that this edition of For Each and Every Child: He Taonga Tonu Te Tamariki is geared more for an older age group, they thought it was important that this book was accessible to all children.
OMEP negotiated with the Ministry of Education to have copies of the book reprinted and distributed to all early childhood services. In the meantime OMEP is creating a digital resource that will soon be on the OMEP website, with more sites to be negotiated. This resource was developed to support teachers, in fact all adults, to reflect on the implementation of these rights in everyday practices and to help children understand that they do have rights and that having rights comes with responsibilities to enable all children to enjoy their rights. A copy of the book is downloadable from the UNICEF New Zealand website.
OMEP is looking for resources to support teachers understanding – articles, books, podcasts etc and would love some specifically around play. Can you help?
IPA Aotearoa NZ is a branch of the International Play Association (IPA World) and is a non-governmental organisation that exists to promote the child’s right to play, their way.